Oats In The Water (English Version)
by LittleSunset264
Summary: Anne and Sprig haven't been seen all day and Hop Pop's worried. (One-shot. Spropadiah.)


His feet glided across the floor.

Hop Pop walked back and forth. His head hung while his arms were behind his back. The elder was terrified out of his damn mind. Sprig and Anne are nowhere to be seen and he didn't know where they were at. Polly was still there with him, so he was glad he at least knew that one of his grandkids were okay.

Normally he wouldn't worry as much as he did, but when he woke up, they were gone. It was already near sundown and they still weren't home. He only hoped they were on their wacky adventures like they usually were, especially Sprig. He was the one Hop's worrying the most, due to him being his grandson and everything.

Hopadiah looked out to the trees ahead. For a moment he had hoped that they would come right out laughing as if the adventure was a joke. That was all he wanted right now. He didn't know what he would do if anything happened to his grandson.

If anything _did_ happen to Sprig, he swore that he would-

"HP!" Hopadiah saw Anne running up to him, losing her breathe. "HP! Come quick, we need you!"

"Anne, where's Sprig?!" Hop Pop asked.

"He's stuck and I can't reach him! Come on!"

She grabbed his hand without hesitation and began running. Hop Pop didn't had a chance to say anything else at all. He only hoped that, while they were gone, that Polly would be alright.

They ran deep into the forest. They went over anything that was ahead of them and went around what wasn't able for one to jump over. Due to them running in a hurry, they didn't notice the fact they broke several leaves and twigs. In what seemed like no time at all, they reached where Anne was at before she ran off to get help. A big hole was in front of the two. Sprig wasn't anywhere in Hop Pop's sight.

He then realized he was probably inside of the hole. Immediately he went to look down inside of it, seeing Sprig sitting with his knees up against his chest. There wasn't much room for him to move nor was he close enough for Anne to get him by herself. Below him all over could see at either spot was darkness, no way of telling what was down there or how deep. Sprig looked upwards then stood up once he saw Hop Pop. Part of the rock Sprig was standing on began to crumble.

Anne grabbed a hold of Hop Pop while having her other hand on a rock to hold on. She let him down the hole slowly. When he got as low as Anne could, he shot his tongue out and it wrapped around Sprig's body. Hop Pop signaled her to pull him back up. After his feet touched the ground, he retracted his tongue pulling him up from the rock to the ground that the two were standing on.

Hop Pop let go of Sprig and put his tongue back into his mouth completely. The younger frog went to hug him.

"Thank you thank you thank you-"

"Hold it, Sprig!" He held his hand out, giving Sprig an intense, not-so-happy look. Sprig then stopped and gulped, laughing nervously. "Just what were you two doing it in the woods? And why so early at that?"

"We-"

"We woke up and we couldn't go back to sleep so _I_ thought we'd go out on an adventure!" Sprig interrupted, having his hand on her mouth. "I admit we _did_ get kinda lost, but hey, everything's good now!"

"You could've fallen further into that pit and you could've been dead! I don't know _what_ you two were doing, but this time it was stupid dangerous!" Hop Pop scolded. "You didn't even say anything about going anywhere, and while I was asleep no less!"

Sprig stared downwards, same with Anne. Sprig looked hurt, which Hopadiah didn't like to see as it broke his heart, but he had to be firm with him. He couldn't let him be as reckless as he was at times like that. Before he had to look at his face any longer, he sighed and walked a bit ahead.

"We're going back home." He started. "I think you kids had enough excitement for one day."

Neither of them said anything in response. They only followed behind him. Along the way he heard them whisper stuff but he couldn't make out what they were saying. Usually he'd want to know what they were talking about that they had to whisper about it, though right now he didn't care enough. He was glad that they were okay now.

It wasn't long before they got back to the farm. The sun was a hair above the horizon, any minute now and it would be under the blanket of the grassy ground. They headed inside the house. Hop Pop went to the kitchen to start on dinner while Anne and Sprig went down to the basement.

* * *

Hop Pop opened the door to his room.

He went to his bed and laid down, grabbing a book close by. He turned the mushroom lamp on so he could read in the dark. The elder then opened the book, reading the first page. He figured he would do some reading for the night. Before he could even get to the third page, he heard a knock on the door. He quietly sighed when the knocking entered his line of hearing. Without looking at the door, he opened his mouth to speak.

"Hey uh, Hop Pop? Mind if I sleep with you tonight?" The young kid asked.

It had been awhile since he asked that, and he hardly ever did anymore aside from now and the last time he did which considering the circumstances of last time he couldn't blame him or anyone else. Hop Pop slid his finger under the page, being prepared for when he had to turn it.

"Hop-"

"Come in, Sprig." He answered.

He heard his bedroom door open. His footsteps indicated that he was coming closer to the bed Hop Pop was inhabiting. Sprig then got in the bed and laid down, facing away from Hop Pop.

In the corner of the old frog's eyes he noticed that Sprig's arm went down the side of the bed. It looked like he was reaching for something that could've been on the side of the bed, although he didn't know exactly what. For now, he pretended like he didn't see Sprig doing that and continued reading his book. Whatever he was doing, he could check out in the morning. At the moment he just wanted to rest, mainly Sprig.

He was glad that he was looking the opposite way, he didn't want him to see his face being as pink as it was. While it wasn't exactly considered wrong or immoral for him to be with a family member in Wartwood and in Amphibia overall — in fact it was allowed if inbreeding wasn't involved — it didn't feel right to him. It was possible it could be because he never felt that way towards anyone in the family until now, towards his own grandson. It was still taking some time for him to get used to, he did only realized it just a week ago after all.

He only wanted to make sure that his grandkids would be okay, not hurt too badly, even if it was from him. He didn't want to hurt them no matter what regardless if it were to be by accident or not. That was without taking how Sprig would feel in return into account as well. If he did feel the same way, he wouldn't know _what_ he himself would do.

A croak came from his side, interrupting his train of thought. Hop Pop looked at Sprig, whom of which was fast asleep now. Another croak came from him. His mouth was slightly agape, enough so words could escape if he wanted to. Soon afterwards Hop could've sworn he heard a word or two come out of his mouth, although he didn't know what they were. He leaned closer without disturbing him.

Another few words came out. Most of it he couldn't make out, but the couple of words he did figure out were 'love you' and 'Hop Pop'. He couldn't help but have a smile on his aging face. He leaned back to how he was before and kept reading. A moment after he started reading again, he felt a hand on his arm. When he looked, he saw Sprig holding onto him in his sleep. He croaked once again.

Hop Pop was happy that he was sleeping as peacefully as he was.

* * *

Light came through the window.

Hop Pop opened his eyes, seeing Sprig as the first thing in his sight of the day. The younger frog croaked in his sleep like he had done a few times last night. He sat up, quietly stretching and yawning. He then got out of the bed. Remembering what Sprig was doing last night, he went to the other side of the bed and looked under it.

His eyes widened as he looked back and forth between his grandson and what was under the bed. What Sprig put under the was a flame colored gemstone that had a daffodil on top of it. A note was sitting next to it as well. Was this what he was doing yesterday? He didn't know how to feel about the gift he received. All of it took him by surprise.

Hop Pop didn't know what the note would contain, and he wasn't too sure if he wanted to find out yet. He did take the gem and the note, though. The gem was as big as his hand, if not a tad bigger. It was like nothing he had ever seen before as it sparkled and shined. If it was possible, he could just sit there for hours staring at its beauty and feel mesmerized. He shouldn't, though, there was work to be done that day.

He went to put the note into his pocket. As he was about to put the gem into the other one, he heard a yawn. Hop Pop looked up, seeing Sprig stretching. He was wide awake alright. Once he was done stretching, he stared at him. He looked down to see that Hop Pop was holding the gem he put under the bed in his hands.

Sprig's eyes then shot back at Hop Pop's face. He gulped and his face turned red. He then immediately got up and went to get out of the room. Before he could the elder frog grabbed him arm firmly to stop him in his tracks. Hop turned his head around, giving him a warming smile.

"Sit down, Sprig, I just wish to talk to you." He calmly told him.

Sprig didn't say anything, just sat back onto the bed and looked down as his legs swung back and forth. One could see how much his heart was beating. With how it was beating it could pop right out of his chest any minute now.

"...Did you uh, read the note or…?"

"Not yet." Hop Pop replied. "I'll read that when we're done, unless you're going to say what was written on it yourself."

Hop Pop saw him look at him for a split second but his eyes were still away from him. His head turned to his left.

"I'm guessing you were finding this yesterday?"

Sprig nodded. "I know you were talking about it a few days ago so I went to find it for you."

Hop Pop snickered. "I appreciate it, but you didn't have to do that, Sprig." He patted his head.

He gave the letter back to Sprig. Sprig looked at the note then him, then gulped. He nervously laughed as he got off the bed.

"Sorry Hop Pop, but uh I think I hear Anne calling! Uh see you later!"

Sprig went running out of the room before anything else could be said or done. Hop Pop chuckled, taking the note out to finally read it. His eyes ran through the words on the note. He looked at the door and smiled. The elder got up, walking out of the room.

Hop Pop got an answer for one of his questions, and now it was his turn.

In the meantime, Sprig was downstairs quietly knocking on the door to the basement. He opened it up slightly to see if Anne was awake. From the looks of it, she wasn't. The human was asleep like a poliwag. Well, he supposed he was the only one up for awhile aside from Hop Pop and Polly.

He went to the kitchen to get some food. As he was doing so, Sprig heard someone going down the stairs. The young frog was hesitant to turn around in case if the person was Hop Pop. In the end though, he turned around and Hop Pop was standing there, handing him the note he gave him back. He had a smile on his face while handing the note.

Gulping, Sprig took it back and looked at the near complete blank side of the paper. Seeing a written 'yes' on there made him smile. There was a lot of things he could say right now, but all he could get it was a quiet yet ecstatic 'yes'. Sprig walked out of the kitchen.

Once he did, he started to hop and audibly cheer on celebration, loud enough for the whole house to hear. The door to the basement got opened and a groan came out of it.

"Can you _please_ keep it down? I need to sleep…" Anne yawned out.

Sprig grabbed her hands. "I'm going on a date later!"

"Whoa, what?" Anne's eyes widened and became as huge as bug eyes. "With who?!"

"Hop Pop!" He threw his arms into the air.

Her face became one of disgust. "_And _I must be having a nightmare. See you in a few hours." She closed the basement door and went back to sleep.

"Huh, guess she's not used to that sorta thing." Polly said.

"Guess not."

Sprig continued to celebrate.


End file.
